


The Blue Paladin

by Canadiantardis



Series: The Paladins of Voltron [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: A few alien OCs here and there, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Bonding, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Galra Keith (Voltron), Gen, Haggarian!Pidge, Implied/Referenced Brainwashing, Kidnapping, Lotor is a Creep, Mind Manipulation, Minor Violence, Non-Consensual Touching, Possible Polyamory, Rescue Missions, Slow Romance, Surprisingly kidfriendly despite the angst, This is the start of the romance for klunk, With A Twist, unwanted flirting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-06
Updated: 2017-04-10
Packaged: 2018-09-23 08:11:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 16,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9647600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Canadiantardis/pseuds/Canadiantardis
Summary: Pawn has taken Lance, still injured from the wound Pawn had given him, back to Haggar and the new ruled of the Galra Empire, Prince Lotor. Shiro had promised he would save them both somehow. Hunk and Keith realize how much they care about someone when they're gone.//Sequel to The Green Paladin, where Pidge is turned against the team by Haggar's magic.





	1. Fish out of Water

**Author's Note:**

> Buckle up, everyone, we're starting in the deep end

When Lance opened his eyes, he expected to see the medical bay, and maybe all his friends around him looking anxiously or relieved at him, maybe Pidge being herself again. What he got instead was not at all what he thought he would see.

He was slumped in a seat in one of the smaller ships the Castle of Lion had, his head resting forward at a really uncomfortable angle thanks to gravity. He groaned loudly as he moved to sit up, hand going to his wounded side and he had to blink hard to really see through the pain. He saw movement coming from the other seat in the ship and turned to see who it was, a groggy sort of question already on his lips when he saw who it was.

“Pidge?” He called to the other, still feeling pain from the wound that should have been fully healed from the pod he had been put into. When he looked down he saw his shirt had been taken but he still had his jacket on mostly covering his torso.

Pidge turned to him with a scowl. “I don’t know who this Pidge guy is but it’s not me.”

Lance gave the other a confused look. “You are Pidge. What’s wrong with you, how can you not remember your own name?”

“My name is Pawn, not Pidge, idiot.”

Lance paused in his movement to sit up properly to look at Pidge incredulously. He couldn’t think of what to say when a shooting pain stemmed from his wound, which now just looked cauterized so he assumed the pod had healed most of the internal stuff before he had been taken out of it.

Pidge turned back to the front, her face grim and set.

The two sat in choking silence for a couple minutes before Lance spoke up again. “Where are we going? Why aren’t we back in the Castle of Lions?”

“You really should shut up.” Pidge growled, looking over at him. “I couldn’t complete my mission but I was told I wasn’t allowed to return empty-handed. You were the easiest to take.”

“You’re saying you kidnapped me?”

Pidge rolled her eyes, muttering under her breath just quiet enough that Lance couldn’t hear it clearly.

“You don’t have to do this, Pidge. We can go back, find a way to make you normal-you again.” Lance sat up, looking almost pleadingly at his friend, who’s eyes were blank when they stared back at him.

“If you don’t shut up I’ll knock you out.” She warned.

“But this isn’t like you! You have to see this isn’t you, Pidge, you’d never help the Galra after they-AH!”

Lance hadn’t seen Pidge move until he felt a hand pull at the healing wound and a hard hit to the temple, then he saw nothing more.

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

Shiro had stayed up the entire night looking for some way of tracking the ship Pidge and Lance had been on, but there was no way of tracking it, like something was blocking any attempt.

He sighed angrily, running his fingers through his hair as if it would help him figure a way of tracking the two Paladins he hadn’t thought of before. He couldn’t sleep, his mind too wired on the missing teens, so he decided to head to the training deck, hoping that would help in some way.

While he worked in the training deck, the rest of the Castle woke, one by one, to the chaos of the night before.

Hunk was the first one awake, having always been a bit of an early bird. He grumbled a bit, somewhat regretting staying in the medical bay as his back ached something awful, but it was to be there for Lance in the most literal sense of the word.

At the thought of Lance, Hunk turned to check on the pod, but when he found the pod to be completely empty, his eyes almost bugged out of his head. He looked around frantically, thinking maybe Lance had gotten out a bit early because he was better or something but he saw no one else besides Keith sleeping with a frown on his face. Hunk almost wondered if Keith ever had a moment he wasn’t acting moody for some reason or another before he knocked the thought away to wake the other teen.

“Keith. Keith, man, you gotta wake up. Tell me you saw Lance.” He shook the other.

Keith mumbled incoherently, swatting the hand away sleepily but Hunk persisted, needing to know if the other had seen Lance and ignoring the growing worry that something was gravely wrong.

“Keith, come on, man wake up.” Hunk shook him harder and that did just the trick to wake up the older teen.

Keith’s eyes snapped up, looking fed up as his eyes snapped to Hunk. “What?”

“Lance is gone from his pod. Have you seen him?”

Keith frowned and sat up with a bit of effort, turning his head over to Lance’s pod. “But, he’s not supposed to be out for another few vargas.” He grumbled, confusion laced in his words that Hunk caught easily and the worry settled in his gut.

“You haven’t seen Lance since last night? Oh man, where did he go? Do you think he, uh, he healed fast and just went off to bed or something? Can that happen, being let out of the pod early? Why wouldn’t he wake us up if he had? He would have been weak coming out an-”

“Hunk.” Keith interrupted with a loud sigh, stretching before he stood up to head over to the open pod. “Breathe. We can’t have you hyperventilating now of all times.”

“Yeah, yeah okay. I can do that.” Hunk nodded quickly, sucking in air and just focusing on his breathing before he saw the empty pod again and his mind scattered into different directions. “We gotta find him.”

“Yeah, c’mon, let’s see if he really is up and going or if the others have seen him.” Keith answered, putting a hand on Hunk’s upper arm to guide him out of the medical bay.

The two teens walked around the Castle before they passed the training deck to hear someone practicing. They looked between each other before heading in to see Shiro decimating the practice opponents, sweat making his head glisten, and they saw him take deep, deep breaths as he finished one robot before going for the next one without a break.

“Shiro?” Keith called out to their leader, heading over to him with a frown, one that even Hunk could interpret. Shiro wasn’t normally up this early training, or ever going at it at an anger similar to Keith.

Shiro didn’t seem to hear Keith until the practice opponent was finished and he turned to see the two by the door still, with Keith closing the distance as soon as he turned.

“What are you doing up?” Shiro panted, wiping his forehead.

“We should be the ones asking that, Shiro.” Keith replied. “What are you doing?”

“Practice. Felt like I haven’t in awhile.” Their leader answered, looking away from the teens.

“Have you seen Lance since last night?” Hunk asked, stepping forward, and both saw the tension freeze Shiro where he stood. “Shiro, have you?”

“I…” Shiro looked around the training deck before he closed his eyes with a deep sigh. “Yeah. Yeah I did.”

“Great!” Hunk’s worry lessened a bit, trying to look at things optimistically. If Shiro had seen Lance recently, he must have been okay.

Keith had the opposite feeling, and he frowned at their leader. “Where is he then?”

“He’s…” Shiro finally opened his eyes to look at the two with a strained expression. “Pidge took him.”

“Pidge? What?” Hunk asked.

“But wasn’t Pidge put in a place she couldn’t escape?” Keith asked a moment after.

Shiro shrugged. “I don’t know. I just know Pidge had Lance and took off with him. She’s… She’s still not herself. Haggar did something to her, seemed to like, possess her when I saw them.”

The worry spilled into Hunk’s blood, solidifying like ice and from Keith’s expression, Hunk knew the other felt the same.

“And you didn’t do anything?” Keith asked, deadly quiet.

“I couldn’t. She would have done something to Lance, to them both. At least when I didn’t do anything, I knew Lance would still be okay.” Shiro answered, looking between the two teens. “And I tried to track the ship they took, but it was impossible.”

“So we’ve lost Pidge again and now Lance, too? How do the Galra keep doing this?!” Hunk demanded, knowing no one would give him the answer he wanted to hear, but couldn’t keep the worrying thought out of his head. “Are we ever going to see them again?”

“We have to find them again.” Shiro said with such conviction the words seemed to soothe the two teens a smidge. “I’m not letting the Galra hurt them anymore. We just need to figure out some way of finding the two.”

Chapter done!


	2. Instinct

When Lance came to again, a couple hours later, it was to a sound that kicked his dormant Protective Older Brother instincts into overdrive. Back on Earth, being the middle of five children, he knew when to be the annoying younger brother, and when to be the big brother who would protect the youngers from bullies or mean words.

The scream cracked halfway through, agonized and oh so familiar that his eyes shot open and Lance tried to launch himself at whoever was hurting his family. But when he tried to shoot up from where he lay - _when had he fallen to the floor?_ \- something stopped him halfway in a sitting position.

With wild eyes, he quickly looked at what held him down and found a short laser-chain - it was like strong steel with a thin coating of laser - attached to thick, thick shackles around his arms, covering him hands to elbows. But it didn’t deter him as he jerked at the laser-like chain when the scream came again, the sound muffled from walls that separated him from Pidge.

“PID _GE!”_ He shouted, scrambling his legs under him to try to stand and power through the chain holding him in a painful hunch. He growled, his Protective side rearing its head after almost a full year of sleep, as he yanked at the chains, only stopping when he felt like he was going to pop his joints from their sockets.

Pidge’s screams of pain were cut off suddenly, like whatever was happening to her suddenly stopped and Lance wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or worried about that. He sat back down to get a bit comfortable, figuring he wasn’t strong enough to escape the bonds that held him down but kept his guard up. Now that he was conscious again, and his mind wasn’t hyperfocused on his friend’s pain, he noticed the sickly purple that glowed everywhere like neon oil. His stomach turned at the thought Pidge had taken him to the Galra, even more so that she had been… What? Punished? For “not fulfilling her mission?”

The door Lance couldn’t even get to suddenly opened, distracting Lance from his thoughts as a surprisingly young Galra man stood alone at his door, his armour gleaming with a strange red-purple sheen and seemed to look different from other Galra that Lance had seen before. His weirdly pale hair was ridiculously long, pulled back loosely in something like a half ponytail, and his eyes were glowing a bright yellow, almost gold, staring straight at Lance with a look that drew a deadly cold shiver up his spine.

“So you are the Paladin that child was able to take.” He said in a contemplative tone, and despite his eyes being completely one colour, Lance got the impression he was looking him up and down. “Are all you creatures so diverse in colours? I’m almost surprised one could look as… _Interesting_ as you.” His lips slipped into a smirk, and the shiver came back.

“Oh yeah? Well are all Galra like clones of some ugly originator? Because I can’t tell the difference.” Despite the chill of fear and queasiness, Lance was able to slip into his defensive skin, quips ready on his lips for whatever this Galra had to say.

The Galra gave a laugh, unnerving Lance by his creepy friendliness - no… Not friendliness exactly, but something synonymous to it - as he stepped into the cell, closing the distance between himself and Lance uncomfortably quickly.

When he reached Lance’s side, he crouched down to be eye to eye before he reached a hand in a creepy facade of cupping his cheek. Lance, for his part, would have loved to jerk his head away or run the quiznak away, but the chain to the floor was pulled taut so he had literally nowhere else to go.

“You should be careful what you say, Paladin.” The Galra said then, his voice still creepily light and jovial, but his facial expression was another story. His eyes were sharper, and there was a light frown on his face before suddenly the hand on his cheek slid back and gripped at Lance’s hair, tilting his head at an incredibly uncomfortable position. “I may be more patient than my father, but it would do you good to stay on my good side.”

Lance grunted in response, baring his teeth at the Galra man and covering the pain in his eyes as best he could. “Yeah? Should I care about your father?”

The grip tightened. “I think you know him pretty well. I mean, he was the Emperor until you and your friends came around.”

Lance’s eyes went wide. _Zarkon had a kid? This is Zarkon’s son? What the quiznak?!_

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

By the time Allura and Coran had awoken, the three remaining Paladins were in the dining area, barely touching the food goo that made up their breakfast. Not even Hunk was eating, his mind filled with worried thoughts about his best friends since they all met in the Garrison, both so far away from being safe.

The Alteans entered the dining area, the four mice hanging off Allura’s skirts, only to pause at the looks the humans had on their faces.

“What’s wrong?” Allura asked, walking over to the three with a concerned look.

“Lance and Pidge are gone.” Shiro said in clipped words, his mannerisms sounding more militaristic that it unnerved Hunk and the others. “Pidge was being controlled and took Lance last night. I couldn’t do anything without risking Lance’s safety. Now they’re most likely in the hands of Haggar.”

“Pidge is gone?” Coran asked. “How could she have escaped from that holding area?”

“I looked into it. There was a vent.” The others all closed their eyes, looking vexed. _Of course, the vents,_ they all thought with a groan accompanying it.

“So they are just… Gone?” Allura sounded almost nervous to know the answer, her voice soft. “We cannot find them again?”

Shiro shook his head. “There doesn’t seem to be a way to track them. On our side, we can’t do anything, so we just have to hope one of those two can figure out a way to let us know where they are.”

Chapter done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is only just the beginning.  
> Oh, I also finally put chapter names for both Blue Paladin and Green Paladin! I personally like chapters with titles, since they give the slightest bit of idea what the chapter will hold normally, though lately it's been hard to think of chapter titles... Oh well, I'm getting back into it!


	3. Vrepit Sa

The Prince left Lance a little after his little parental reveal, a scary smirk covering his face before he practically tossed Lance’s head back when he let go of the Blue Paladin’s hair.

“I do hope you enjoy your stay, Paladin. I have a feeling this will be a very fun time.” He had said, chuckling as he left, the cell door closing without a sound, leaving Lance with whirling thoughts.

_Quiznak_ , he wished he had his hands free. Even if he was handcuffed, if he had his hands, he’d be able to do more than what he could do now. As it were, he simply sat cross-legged and rested his forehead against the cool metal of the large shackles.

It was a lot to process. Zarkon had a son, who looked very unlike him in all the ways Lance would have thought a child of the greatest evil in all the galaxies would look. The same son seemed to have developed, upon seeing Lance, a creepy interest in him that made Lance have shards of ice flood his systems.

On the other side, he learned in a roundabout fashion he was just going to be kept in here, although Lance wasn’t really sure why. Why had he been taken? Because he was the physically weakest at the time, the dull ache of his wound a constant reminder, but if Pidge had been sent to kill the others, why was he just a prisoner?

The questions kept coming with no answer in sight, driving Lance up the wall until he groaned, the sound halfway through turning into a growl of annoyance.

“This is completely pointless.” He sighed, laying down as comfortably as he could get, staring up at the smooth ceiling, wondering idly if he was going to go crazy or die first.

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

Haggar had seen the Prince leave the Blue Paladin’s room with a gleeful expression, and she approached him, finding the look curious.

“My lord, what has made you so happy?” She asked when she reached him, guiding him towards her labs where the experiment was being restarted.

“That human is very, _very_ interesting.” Prince Lotor answered cryptically, the smirk still on his face. “I’m very pleased the child was able to take this one.”

“How so?” Haggar questioned, waving a hand to open the door to her labs.

“I just find the human to be nice on the eyes. I think I’m going to keep him around.” The tone of the Prince made Haggar look over at him again, but she also found herself smirking at the idea. “It’ll be fun to play with him as well. I might be able to find out some information from this creature.”

“I will wish you luck on your attempts, Prince Lotor. Though, I would advise you to be careful. That creature is one of the Paladins of Voltron, the ones who has almost murdered your father.”

“I know. I won’t make things easy for him. I will see what his weaknesses are, and simply exploit them to keep him nice and docile.” Lotor chuckled, a low sound as they reached the hanging Paladin, the child’s arms stretched above his head, feet dangling.

The Paladin looked almost dead, if not for the rise and fall of his chest and the twitches that spasmed the entire body.

“Pawn, awaken.” Haggar commanded, and the child’s head snapped up painfully, a wave of emotion passing over his face.

It was quiet for a moment before Haggar saw something pass behind the child Paladin’s eyes and she frowned.

“Lance… Where’s Lance…” The Green Paladin asked in a hoarse voice, and Haggar squinted at him. Somehow the child was able to return to consciousness, the brainwashing not complete apparently.

“You are not supposed to be here.” She responded, raising a hand to the child’s chest, watching with satisfaction when his eyes widened in fear. “You are a stubborn creature.”

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

Pawn hurt so much. She had failed and was punished. Unsure how long it took until her punishment was over, all Pawn knew was when she was finally released, her arms were heavy and her legs were weak from lack of use.

Haggar stood over her, commanding words slicing through her mind like glass.

“You will be retrained until you are ready to get rid of the rest of Voltron. You have missed your best chance to defeat them so we will wait for the next time.” Haggar told Pawn. “As you train, you are not allowed to go near the prisoners on your own, particularly the other Paladin you brought with you. If anyone catches you near him you will be taken care of.”

Pawn nodded in understanding.

“Good. Vrepit Sa.”

“Vrepit Sa…” Pawn mumbled, feeling a tremble in her heart and a quiet cry in her head she could not understand.

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

Matt was the last one awake, having been stuck in some sort of dream where he was surrounded by different types of fauna of different colours and textures he almost didn’t want to wake up in morning. But he was shocked awake when a sound similar to a lion’s roar echoed in his head that brought a gasp from his lips and his eyes shot open, staring at the ceiling of his new room in the Castle of Lions.

Something told him something was wrong before he even saw another person on the ship. It was a soft voice brushing against his consciousness and for some reason reminded him of Katie. He shook the thought away, and felt the brushing voice retreat for a moment before returning like an attention-seeking kitten. Matt didn’t think much of it, having gone through a lot, and the voice was very benevolent in his mind.

He wandered the Castle looking for the others, or the kitchen - whichever he found first if he was honest - before he eventually found both.

Hunk was sitting at a long table with green slime-like substance on a large plate, a spork in hand but he only poked at the apparent food, and despite Matt never knowing the teen before, he could tell something was wrong.

“You okay?” He asked, approaching the teen who jumped in his seat at his voice. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Wha-I-No, you didn’t scare me.” Hunk stammered, shaking his head quickly and actually taking a large spork-ful of the slime and eating it without making a face. Matt idly wondered what it tasted like. “Just, was thinking. What are you doing?”

“Looking for the kitchen, actually.” Matt replied.

Hunk straightened, pushing his seat back while gesturing to a connecting door. “Kitchen is right in there. Oh, yeah, you haven’t eaten yet.”

The teen helped Matt get some food, a word of advice as well about the taste of the goo food. “It has a really gross taste at first, but you get used to it. Surprisingly really good for you, there’s so much vitamins and energy that makes you actually want to get up and work out.”

“So the opposite of coffee back home?” Matt said with a wry smile.

Hunk looked surprised before the expression turned to thoughtful. “Huh, never thought about that. Yeah, I’d say that it’s exactly the opposite of coffee back on Earth.” He chuckled. “Good one.”

“Thanks.” Matt took the plate of goo and sat down at the table by Hunk, eating slowly to get used to the taste, making a face and almost wishing he could spit it out, but his Dad had instilled in him not to waste food, so instead of spitting it out, he swallowed it after a bit.

“Told you.” Hunk smiled, but when Matt looked over at him, he noticed the smile didn’t reach his eyes, which were saddened and almost pained.

“Did something happen while I was asleep?” Matt asked, putting down his spork.

Hunk jumped before looking around the dining area like he couldn’t find it in him to look at the oldest Holt child.

“There’s no easy way to say this, but…” Hunk sighed heavily, stabbing the goo as he stared fixedly at his plate. “Pidge, uh, Katie I guess, she… She took Lance last night, apparently under orders from the Galra.”

Matt paused, frowning as he looked closely at the teen. “What?” He could only manage to say, his mind having trouble understanding.

“Oh man…” Hunk looked to the ceiling as if to ask some sort of god a desperate question. “Pidge is gone and she took Lance from his healing pod. Shiro says she was being controlled by Haggar, the, uh, the witch that followed Zarkon closely.”

“You’re joking.” Matt deadpanned, feeling like he couldn’t understand but he could, all too well and he was terrified of the truth.

Hunk ducked his head. “I really wish I was joking, man. But Lance… And, and Pidge are gone, not on the ship and one of the ships are gone with no way of tracking them.”

Matt frowned, thinking quickly. “There’s nothing on their suits that can be tracked?”

“I, uh, I don’t know? I mean, we can ask Allura or Coran, but I don’t really know.”

Matt was thinking on his feet. It wasn’t just his sister who was curious, creative and a tech junkie. It was a family trait to be smart and good with technology, even their mother was a scientist for the government. If he had something to go on, a spark of something that can be traced over the universe, then maybe… Maybe he could track the two down.

Chapter done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This will be the last time we hear from Pidge's pov for a very long time. It makes me sad, but we'll still see her from time to time~


	4. Threats

Lance got bored easily.

He wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but he felt like every second was an eternity. He took as much rest as he could handle while being a prisoner of an alien race that honestly wanted to destroy the universe and kill him and his friends for protecting said universe. He counted the imperfections of the ceiling, then of the wall where the door was, then the other walls several times, his current total count was about 1,964 imperfections, from grooves to dents to the actual seams between the metal, only noticeable if one was as utterly bored as Lance was.

He was given food sometime, and when he asked if he could use his hands - they were beginning to cramp up from their immovable position - the guard laughed harshly before closing the door, leaving Lance with the food he wasn’t sure how he was going to be able to eat with bending down and eating like some kind of animal.

In the end he had no other option. His hands were utterly useless in their bound state, and like he was going to allow his feet to touch his food, whatever it was. It was too dark in his cell, despite the light coming from the walls and from outside his cell, but from the look, it seemed similar to Coran’s Altean goo, and as Lance bent his head down, his body practically contorting itself to not have his behind in the air as he lowered himself to his food, he hoped it would taste like the Altean’s food.

He took a small bit of the goo and just when it touched his tongue, he regretted trying to eat it. He almost spat it out, a chill of disgust running down his spine, but he swallowed instead. He didn’t know when he was going to be fed next - who knew if Galra fed their prisoners regularly if much at all - so he scarfed the food down, trying to not let the goo linger on his tongue, the taste was so awful even a dog wouldn’t willingly eat it. And dogs ate kibble!

Once the food was gone, so was his real only means of distraction. The room was dull now, his eyes already used to the darkness, and it was so unbelievably quiet.

It was the quiet that Lance hated the most. It was unnatural to him to have a place be so quiet he could practically hear his heartbeat so clearly. Coming from a large family, Lance was used to noise at all hours of the day, even when sleeping. It gave him a homesick sort of feeling, alone in the quiet cell.

He tried whistling to make noise but soon his throat got too dry to make any sort of noise and he stopped.

Soon after Lance finally fell asleep, bored and exhausted from everything that had happened, unnerved by the silence even as he fell asleep.

During his sleep, he felt Saphira - the nickname Lance gave the Blue Lion between the two of them - trying to reach him. Her sounds were so far off he could barely understand her words, but he could hear the tone. She was worried for her missing cub, but unable to go to him.

Lance tried his best to soothe her, despite the distance between them in both the real and dream realms, but also knew if she tried to come to get him - like Red had been doing with Keith after those two bonded - Saphira would only end up hurt or caught, knowing her.

He wanted to talk more to her when things started to fade, her roars fading into nothing before all of a sudden he was awake, and with company this time.

The Galra Prince stood over him, peering down at him uncomfortably close despite still standing up. Lance’s eyes widened and he gave a quiet shout - more of a yelp - at the sight.

“Humans are really fascinating creatures.” The Prince commented, a shark-like grin on his face that made Lance’s skin crawl. “Tell me, Blue Paladin, what are humans like? I admit I’ve only seen the remains of slaves or experiments of the druids, so I’d like to hear from an actual human.”

“Ever learn a thing called personal space?” Lance ignored the question, shuffling on his back in an attempt to move away from the Galra Prince.

All that did was make the other laugh and simply follow Lance, this time stepping around the teen so his legs were on either side of Lance’s waist, trapping him from moving anywhere. “Are all humans this stupid, then? One would think you’d know your place, Paladin.”

Lance made a face, squirming uselessly underneath the Prince’s gaze. “What do you want? If you think I’m going to tell you anything about Voltron or my friends, you have another thing coming. I’d never sell out the people I care about.”

“Pity, then.” The Prince gave a mocking frown. “I suppose the Green Paladin will just have to tell Haggar everything.”

“Don’t touch her.” The Protective Instinct reared its head in Lance’s chest and he glared daggers up at the Galra.

“Not my decision to make, Paladin. The Green Paladin is Haggar’s to do with as she wishes.”

“You’ll never get anything from her either. Pidge is the smartest person I know, she won’t give up any real information.”

The Prince sighed, a bit of real emotion - annoyance - appearing on his expression that caused Lance to rethink provoking someone who could very well hurt him or even just plain kill him.

“We already know that. Your _Pidge_ is very tight-lipped about the other Paladins and the Castle of Lions.” The Prince bent forward, invading Lance’s personal space to the point of harassment. “But one of you will slip up, and Voltron, and the rest of this _ridiculous_ rebellion, will be no more.”

“You know you’ll never win.” Lance tried to look away from the bright yellow eyes but they were the only thing of colour in the room and Lance’s eyes were moths to the Galra’s flame-yellow orbs. “It’s like in any good versus evil type thing, the evil people always lose.”

“And what makes you think _you’re_ not on the wrong side?” Their faces were too close for Lance’s comfort. “What if the Galra are the good guys in this situation, and Voltron is the evil side?”

Lance, despite himself, laughed at that in a mocking tone, surprising the Prince into moving back a little bit from his face. Feeling a small bit confident, Lance spoke brashly. “Aliens who are trying to take over the entire universe, enslaving innocent people and destroying planets are the good guys. Yeah. Sure. That’s believable.”

A look of anger passed over the Prince’s face that made Lance almost wish he had taken back his words. Almost.

“Every war needs sacrifices. A few planets fall to achieve perfect harmony of the universe? That’s nothing.” His teeth were bared and Lance flinched a small bit. “Voltron will perish and you will see just how strong the Galra empire is. After all, we’re slowly taking over every last piece of free planet, and have been for over ten thousand years.”

“You won’t win. Pidge and I will get out of here, get back to our team and defeat you like we defeated Zarkon.” Lance barely controlled the shakiness, uncertainness of his words as he spoke.

“You and that child will never leave. Haggar will make sure of it, boy.” The Prince had surprised Lance by grabbing his hair, leaning in close until Lance could feel the Galra Prince’s breath on his face. “And maybe you’ll learn to like it here.”

Lance highly doubted that.

Chapter done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So quick little thing about Lions and their Names: the Paladins are the only ones that know their own Lion's names because of the bond between them. They don't tell the others the names. So, when in Lance's POV, he will normally think of Blue as Saphira, but if I was in say Hunk or Keith's POV, they would only think of Blue as Blue. Hope that makes sense ^.^;


	5. Confession

“Can you repeat all that? I think I misheard you.”

Hunk was blinking rapidly in confusion, and beside him he could tell the rest of the crew on the Castle of Lions felt the same.

It was breakfast time, a full day after finding out Pidge and Lance were gone, and everyone was picking at their food again, even Hunk - something was bothering him since Lance was missing that made it hard to concentrate on eating, much less trying to make the food in the first place - when Matt put down his spork and told them he had a dream all the Paladins knew from experience.

He had told them how he dreamt he was in this densely wooded area, with some trees thicker than the White House, when he heard a voice speak to him, talking to him about his sister. At the mention of the voice, the three remaining Paladins had straightened, looking at Matt intently.

“The voice said I was going to replace Katie until we could save her.” Matt repeated his last statement, looking between the others. “Did the voice mean I was going to be the-”

“The Green Lion spoke to you?” Keith asked with a frown.

“I think so, yes.”

“Princess?” Shiro asked suddenly, bringing their attention to the Altean woman, who looked surprised by the sudden shift in attention. “What do you think?”

“I?” She questioned, looking at Shiro before looking back at Matt. “I… If the Green Lion has spoken to Matt, then we have to believe him. The Green Lion must see something in Matt that reminds her of Pidge, or his own competence to be her pilot, and somehow knows he can help us save Pidge and Lance.”

The teens and Coran were quiet, looking between each other until Shiro spoke. “Then I guess that’s it. Matt, you’ll pilot the Green Lion until we save Pidge and Lance from the Galra.”

Matt nodded.

Hunk frowned, still not knowing exactly what to say or do with new information. It felt like they were replacing Pidge with someone who looked strikingly similar to her, even if it was temporary, and the person was Pidge’s brother who wanted her back as much as the rest of them, but it didn’t stop him from thinking about it.

Matt, Shiro and Allura left the dining area a few minutes later, Hunk not paying attention to why, leaving him with Coran and Keith.

The other two were just as silent, Keith even more unusually so.

It wasn’t until Coran had left the room, saying something about checking the Castle’s something or other, that Keith even opened his mouth.

“What if…” He sounded unnervingly worried, causing Hunk to feel a flutter of anxiety in his chest. “What if we don’t save them in time?”

And that was it, the question Hunk was scared to answer, but had been thinking about as well since Pidge had been taken the first time. He knew the answer himself, how he would react to knowing they were too late to get to them, but saying it out loud was not something he could do. He wouldn’t forgive himself for letting Pidge get hurt, having developed a strong bond with his fellow nerd. They had been fast friends over their love for technology and understanding how things worked.

As for Lance, Hunk wasn’t sure how he felt. There was the same feeling of not being able to forgive himself if Lance got hurt, but it was a different kind of pain he could barely describe. The two had been friends since the first day of going to the Garrison together when they were both around fifteen, the usual age a recruit would join. Even when Lance had been a cargo pilot, the two remained close friends, studying their butts off together in the dorms, being asked the most bizarre and random questions by the other at all times of the day, reflecting on life during late nights when one of them couldn’t sleep because of a test or - since they became Paladins - because they were worried about some new threat.

Hunk’s chest felt tight, like his heart was being squeezed by a python and he had to shake his head quickly, hoping to get rid of the thoughts.

“We can’t afford to think like that.” Hunk said firmly.

Keith looked at him, and somehow Hunk found his expression to be mirrored in Keith’s expression, as if they both had been thinking the same thing.

“Okay, but what if? Would you regret how things were with them? Never trying to do something more for them?” Keith asked, making Hunk frown, unsure.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean…” Keith let out an angry breath before words spilled from his lips. “Would you regret never telling Lance, or, or Pidge maybe, I don’t know, that you liked one of them?”

Hunk paused, eyes looking over at Keith to study his body language. The Red Paladin was hunched over, a familiar sight when he was trying to hide himself away, but there was also the drooped shoulders. He looked… vulnerable for saying those words and Hunk tried to understand it better.

“Liked one of them? What do you mean?” Hunk asked, only half-certain what Keith was getting at, but felt like Keith should air out his thoughts fully.

Keith seemed to sense he was going to have to open up and he looked away, his shoulders now tense and high before he sighed and all the tension slowly eased away to acceptance.

“Like, ugh, I don’t know.” Keith began to gesture vaguely as if to help get his words across. “Liked one of them more than a friend. Like, seeing them everyday makes you so happy for a completely different reason to just being around a close friend, like you want to be near them and talk about anything, just to spend time with them. Like, quiznak, like a _crush_ , Hunk, how more specific do I have to go?” Keith turned to look at Hunk steadily, as if expecting ridicule.

Hunk did smile, but it wasn’t a mocking quirk of the lips, or laugh at the confession the other gave. His smile was soft, sympathetic and almost surprised. Because he felt the same, but had never thought about that last similarity until just that moment.

“Oh.” He said, and although he wanted to say more, he couldn’t think of how to say it.

The two were staring at each other for several ticks before Keith spoke.

“'Oh?' Is that really all to say to that? C’mon Hunk, I just opened up to you, this is more I’ve told even _Shiro_ , and he’s like family to me.” Keith sounded anxious.

“Uh, I, uh, sorry.” Hunk scrambled for thoughts. “So you have a crush on one of them? Lance?”

Keith’s cheeks went rosy and that was answer enough.

“Oh.” Hunk said again, looking thoughtful.

“What’s with that face? So what? Does it matter if we don’t find them again?” Keith brought him back to the present, the thoughtful look melting to a more somber expression on Hunk’s face.

“We’ll find them, we’ll save them and maybe…” Hunk’s heart went funny. “Maybe something will happen. I can tell you both care about each other, despite the bickering.”

Keith was quiet, his eyes seeming to search Hunk’s face before he looked away, muttering, “I’m going to the training deck for a bit.”

Hunk was left in the dining area alone to think. The dishes had been moved thanks to Coran before he had left to do the whatever to the thing so Hunk didn’t have to worry about that, so he slumped back into his seat. Keith’s confession had resonated loud and clear in his head. He felt the same thing. He felt the exact same way, and it was to a T. He wasn’t sure how long he had had those kinds of feelings, all he knew he was so sure it was the exact same as Keith.

_Quiznak._

Chapter done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These boys are dense, okay?  
> Halfway through the fic! Let's see where this takes us!


	6. Exploitation

Prince Lotor had seen something in the Blue Paladin he knew he could exploit. He had seen it, well heard the first time, before even seeing the human for the very first time, kneeling thanks to the chains, when the Paladin had heard his friend being reconditioned. He had then seen it again when he mentioned the Green Paladin to him. It was a superb weakness to exploit, and Lotor knew every race had one of those bleeding heart-type creatures.

So he wished to test the exploitation. _How far could he manipulate the Blue Paladin into submission?_ Lotor simply had to know.

But he had to bide his time, waiting for Haggar to be finished with reconditioning the child. It seemed to have taken a bit less time to chip away at the Green Paladin’s mind, at least that was what Haggar told the Prince one evening.

“When you’re done, I’d like you to take the Pawn and have her scream in pain.” Lotor told Haggar. “Do whatever you must to extract such a sound from the experiment, in front of the Blue Paladin. If he is really as weak as I hope he is, then we might have leverage against him.”

“Really?” Haggar questioned. “How are you so certain hearing the other in pain will provoke the Blue Paladin?”

“He is loyal, and I sensed a protectiveness in that boy that, if we can control it, may be used against him.”

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

Lance counted himself lucky he didn’t often dream much since finding Saphira. The only dreams he did normally have were actually conversations with her, so his mind creating dreams were never really there.

But since being a prisoner of the Galra Prince, his dreams were more like nightmares. He still had no idea how long he and Pidge had been taken, but could roughly guestimate a couple days at least.

He had just woken from another nightmare, of what Lance wasn’t too sure but it left his heart racing and kept him in a cold sweat he couldn’t wipe away very well. He took deep breaths to calm his heart, and began his usual testing of the shackles that kept him trapped. He was half-sure his hands were going to be stuck the way they were trapped in, curled up at a painful angle now, and wished to flex his fingers.

When he knew the bonds hadn’t weakened over the past couple hours or however long he had been able to sleep this time, Lance slumped forward, tired. He hated this, hated being so weak that he couldn’t do anything but wait like some damsel in distress. And if he was honest, there was no other word for him; he didn’t have his armour but his jacket that had never been closed properly, only really keeping him slightly above chilly in the cell, his jeans, and he didn’t have his bayard because it was still on most likely on the docking bay floor where he had fallen from the stab wound.

Lance had taken to thinking more than anything, sometimes getting so wrapped in his head he didn’t hear anything until he was brought back, and so he found himself blinking without seeing for several ticks until he focused on the people in front of him.

He shook off his momentary surprise at the sight of several Galra, including the Prince and Haggar, with a small prisoner who looked dazed, her eyes glazed over.

Lance sat up as straight as he could, eyes wide as he took in Pidge. She looked so out of it, the flames that normally burned behind her amber eyes nearly extinguished, and she had even more bruises than before smattering her cheeks and neck - the only places showing skin as the rest was covered by black under armour - faint scars of the cuts she had on her jaw and forehead.

Lance blinked, and suddenly the Prince was turning to Haggar with a nod. The Druid gave a smile Lance could clearly see from under the hood that cloaked her, before she turned to Pidge.

“Pawn, awake.” The Druid commanded and quickly Lance saw the fire relight in her eyes, although glowing a soft yellow, similar to Galra eyes in general, and Pidge blinked several times to take inventory of herself and the room she was in.

Pidge’s eyes landed on Lance, and he felt a flutter of confusion and hope as recognition sparked her expression. She opened her mouth, not noticing Haggar raising her hand towards the younger.

“Lance-AHH!” The call was childlike, questioning, before her voice pierced the room as Haggar did… _Something_ to her, black-purple energy stretching like evil lightning from Haggar’s hand to Pidge’s chest.

Lance’s eyes went wide and he saw the world bleed red. He gave a roar that sounded vaguely like Pidge’s name and tried to stand and charge the Druid woman, his heart seething and bleeding. Pidge was hurting several feet from him and he _could not stop it._ It was like hearing his little siblings cry for scraping their hands or knees on the hot asphalt, but a million times worse as this was a scream of absolute agony, of pain worse than pavement could ever create.

Haggar stopped her magic, and Lance watched as Pidge dropped to the floor like a puppet with the strings suddenly cut. And still he tried to reach her, calling to her with such pain and desperation in his voice he was only distantly surprised he wasn’t crying.

A hand cupped his side of his face, forcing him to look off to one side, into the Prince’s gleaming eyes, at his smug expression, and Lance bared his teeth.

“I have a little proposition for you.” The Prince said. “You wish to protect this child?”

_Quiznak,_ yes, _yes_ Lance wanted to protect Pidge. Not because of her age, or any minor thing like that - she was plenty capable of herself - but because she was _family_. She was like his little brother Nino, who would be turning ten this year, the similarities in their personalities striking, and then they bonded a lot since finding Saphira. He loved her like a sister, one of his own flesh and blood siblings.

But he bared his teeth at the Prince. “I swear…” He jerked his head out of the Galra’s grip, shooting daggers at the other. “I swear on my title as the Blue Paladin, I’ll kill you.”

The Prince took a tick to process what Lance had said before he laughed, his hand returning to the human’s hair with a painful grip. “Like you can do anything. Now, answer the question, would you like to see this child in pain again or not?”

“Don’t. Touch. Her.” Lance ground out, closing his eyes in pain at the hair pulling.

“Then maybe you’ll just have to listen to what I tell you, and she won’t be harmed.”

Chapter done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be honest, I'm proud with the middle of this chapter but not the beginning or ending. They feel... Clunky... but I couldn't figure how to change them.  
> I love Pidge, I really do.


	7. Like a Prize

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy shit there's so many of you reading! Almost 1k hits, omfg thanks!

A day after the confession, Hunk and Keith were on the bridge with Allura when the princess got the communication from a seemingly untraceable location.

She could do nothing as suddenly the front screen showed a face she hadn’t seen since she was a small child, when the other had been just younger than her.

“Lotor?” She breathed, eyes wide, and all the others on the bridge looked over at her in concern. “You’re still alive?”

“Ah, my Lady, you haven’t forgotten me.” Lotor smiled like a predator to prey. “I’m glad.”

“What are you doing?” Allura managed to calm herself over her surprise seeing the other after over ten thousand years. “What do you want?”

“I want?” Lotor looked thoughtful, but his shark-grin was still in-place. “I wanted to show you a little something, my _Lady_.”

There was a sound of chains as Lotor moved his arm in a pulling motion and everyone in the bridge gasped at the sight of a disheveled Lance that was brought up right beside Lotor.

Hunk and Keith’s breaths stopped at the sight of Lance. He looked so tired, bags under bags under his eyes and his hair was just a mess. He didn’t have any big cuts the teens could see, but he had a large bruise on his cheek.

“Lance!” Allura cried in shock, a hand going to her neck as she gave a gasp before anger covered her expression. “What have you done to him?”

“I have done nothing, _Princess._ ” Lotor sounded amused, and even had a smirk on his face, and in full view of the video, wrapped an arm around Lance’s shoulders, holding him intimately  close.

Lance closed his eyes, his jaw set, but did nothing else, something that confused the crew of the Castle of Lions that watched. They all knew Lance, and when he didn’t want to be near something or someone, he would shy away, or full on abscond, never stand there with a look of pain, which made Hunk and Keith wonder what was going on that they couldn’t see.

“Why do you have my Paladins?” Allura demanded.

“Your Paladins? My, my, possessive, aren’t you, _my Lady_?” Lotor had his smirk on his face still.

On the other side of the camera, Lance’s wished he could form fists with his hands, wished he could deck the Prince - _Lotor? What kind of name is that?_ \- right across the face for touching him. But he couldn’t without risking Pidge’s safety. She wouldn’t be harmed if Lotor got what he wanted.

His back was painfully straight and a mix of disgust and fear twisted his gut. He hated this, allowing himself to be some prize of the Galra’s to flaunt with to his friends. He was only happy Shiro and Coran, even Matt wasn’t watching, but when he had seen the looks on the three that were being made to watch added to the fear in his gut.

“Where is the Green Paladin, Lotor.” Allura ordered, but Lotor just laughed, a hand trailing down Lance’s side and the Blue Paladin couldn’t stop the shudder that ran through him.

“The pipsqueak? Oh, I believe Haggar is retraining her.” Lance opened his eyes a bit to see how the other three would react, and saw them all pale.

“Oh, you’re so going down.” Hunk shouted, his usual kind demeanor fading quickly into an angry expression.

“Why are you even doing this?” Keith demanded, stepping forward from his seat on the bridge, standing now beside Allura.

“I’d love to see you try, Paladins.” Lotor pulled Lance closer to his side. “As for why? Well, I’m sure Allura here can explain to you my ways. Now, I must get going. Running an entire empire is hard work, you know.”

The three on the Castle of Lions shouted Lance’s name, their faces seeming to be mixes of shock and anger before Lotor waved a hand and the communication between the two ships was called off.

As soon as the screen went black, Lance wrenched himself away from the Prince, taking several steps away from the Galra man.

“I did as you told me.” He said slowly, turning to face the Prince with a hard look. “You said if I didn’t move during that entire thing, if I didn’t speak, you wouldn’t let Pidge get hurt anymore.”

“I did?” There was that smile again, one that looked amused while watching others were suffering. “Well, I don’t have anything to do with that child. You really should think more carefully before you agree to these things.”

Lance bared his teeth and tried to rush the Galra Prince, raising his shackled arms to punch him when a couple guards suddenly appeared on either side of Lance, manhandling him to the ground. “You said she wouldn’t be hurt again! You lying son of a-”

“Language, _Lance._ ” Lotor laughed as he looked down at the squirming teen. “And really? Are you so idiotic to believe I wouldn’t find a loophole around that silly little promise?”

“You!” Lance growled as he was picked up, facing the Prince’s amused face with a furious expression on his own.

“Yes, me. Now, guards, bring him back to his room. I’m done with him for now.” The Prince turned away, waving a hand and Lance was dragged away, the human still growling at him in anger.

Lance was brought back to him cell, simply tossed in and for the first time since he awoke in the room, not tied down. The door fell shut though, and while now he could walk, he was still trapped.

He tried taking deep breaths, angry with himself. He should have known the Galra wouldn’t keep their end of the promise, should have remembered how Lotor had said before that Haggar had Pidge to do with as she wanted. He felt like kicking himself for being so stupid. He could have yelled at his friends to find them, tell them anything about the Galra location - he had finally been able to see out a window when he was forced to stand beside Lotor during the broadcast - or even just try to move away when the hands touched him. It wasn’t like it would have made a difference, Pidge was getting hurt either way and there was nothing Lance could do.

That thought made Lance lose his breath. He couldn’t do anything to help Pidge, he couldn’t see her because they were in like different cells who-knows how far away from each other, he couldn’t protect her, be her replacement to take the hits.

He sank to the floor, anger and sadness fighting for the dominant feeling inside him.

With a wounded shout, Lance pounded the ground with his covered hands with all his might before pulling his legs up and hiding his face between his knees, curling up.

It took a moment to realize he was crying, fat drops leaking from his eyes, rolling down his cheeks before dropping onto his bare stomach, and once he realized that, he couldn’t find a way to stop.

Chapter done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lotor's age: It Is A Mystery  
> It gets better I promise


	8. Glasses

“There has to be a way to trace it!” Keith shouted, running his hands through his hair agitatedly.

“I’m trying all I can, Keith.” Allura sounded strained, her face still pinched since the communication ended. “There doesn’t seem to be any way for me to track it, I’m sorry.”

Just then Matt and Shiro entered the bridge, talking amongst each other quietly when they both seemed to notice the atmosphere in the room.

“What happened?” Shiro asked cautiously, looking between the three.

“We found out who exactly has Lance and Pidge.” Hunk tried to twist the bad situation into an optimistic one, but his face betrayed his tone.

“Who?”

“Zarkon’s son.” Every head turned to Allura in surprise. “His name is Lotor, and he’s just as vile as his father.”

“Zarkon has a kid? Who would have a kid with him?” Matt questioned rhetorically.

“It doesn’t matter who, all that matters is that he has Lance and Pidge and the longer they are in his hands, the more likely they will be hurt beyond repair.” Allura said. “But I still can’t figure a way to track the communications, there’s something in the way that I can’t seem to trace.”

Matt seemed to perk up. “What do you mean? Let me see.”

The older Holt sibling headed to Allura and the Princess showed him what she was trying to do. Hunk watched with worry until someone nudged him and he jumped when he saw Keith suddenly next to him.

“Come on, I… I can’t stand being here doing nothing.” Keith muttered, heading out of the bridge, passing Shiro, who had an expressionless look on his face as he watched the two teens leave.

“Where are we going?” Hunk asked.

“I don’t know… Maybe the Lion hangars? I need to talk to Sc-Red.” Keith responded, heading exactly where he had said he was going, with Hunk at his heels.

“Then why do you need me to go with you?” Hunk furrowed his brows, almost walking into Keith when the older teen had suddenly stopped walking.

Keith looked up at Hunk, a confused look coming over his blank expression before he seemed to find his words. “I… I want some company I guess? Maybe if Red doesn’t have anything to talk about we can just, I don’t know, do something while the others try to track the signal?”

Hunk looked confused, not really understanding where this Keith had come from but he smiled and nodded. If it meant he was doing something with someone to distract him from the situation, Hunk was all for it. He was reaching his limit with worrying for his best friends.

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

Matt was sitting in Katie’s seat, crossing his legs in the chair as he slowly looked through the Altean script. It was obvious his sister had tried translating bits and pieces, most likely the important pieces but a lot of the script was pretty unknown to the former prisoner.

Over his shoulder was Coran, who was kind enough to translate anything Matt really had no idea what the word was.

Although it was slow going, Matt was slowly getting used to reading the language, quickly picking up similarities even though he doubted he’d be able to speak this complex alien language just yet. His fingers flew across the holo-keyboard, his eyes straining to read everything properly, having gotten pretty decent since he hadn’t been able to have glasses for about three years. His mind wandered a bit, thinking about one of the last times he wore his glasses.

_It was the day of the launch to Kerberos, about a year before he and Shiro and his Dad had been captured by the aliens. Katie and their Mom were standing in the halls with Shiro’s family, Mom wringing her hands but she had a bright, happy smile on her face._

_Mom had hugged Matt tightly, whispering a good luck into his ear. It was his first far space travel - he had only been to Mars previously for a couple months with another team collecting samples - so she was rightly sad, especially since it was both Matt and Dad going._

_When their parents went off to hug one last time, Matt turned to Katie, who had the biggest puppy-dog pout, all wide eyes and jutting lip, and Matt couldn’t help but laugh as he squeezed her tightly._

_“It’ll only be eighteen months, Katie, time’ll fly like that.” He said in good humour, pulling away to look at her._

_Still pouting, Katie nodded. “I know, I just… That’s so long, and you’ll be so far away. At least when you were on Mars and the Moon, you were able to Face-Time us when you could.”_

_“We’ll be fine, sis. You’ll see.” Matt smiled before he had an idea._

_He took his glasses off and turned them over, like he was examining them, before he slid them carefully onto Katie’s face. “The helmet’s are awful for holding glasses. Why don’t you hold on to these until we all get back?”_

_His sister blinked several times, almost looking cross-eyed with Matt’s glasses magnifying her eyes a bit. “For real?” She questioned._

_Matt laughed and nodded. “Promise you’ll give me my glasses back when I get back, okay?”_

_Katie looked determined and nodded, a hand raised to trace the wire frames. “I promise.”_

“You okay, Matt?” Coran’s voice sounded beside him, making the older Holt sibling jump, actually falling out of the chair with a yelp. “Quiznak, sorry about that! Didn’t mean to frighten you.”

“It’s okay, sorry, sorry.” Matt brushed it off, waving a hand as he stood up. “Were you talking?”

Coran gave him a side-glance. “Well, yes actually. I was asking if you had found something. You had spaced out a bit there.”

“Sorry, no, not yet.” Matt replied, rubbing his eyes. “It’s just hard concentrating without my glasses.”

“Oh, like Pidge?”

“Katie doesn’t need glasses, she has perfect vision.” Matt frowned.

“Well, she’s always wearing these large glasses when she’s not wearing her Paladin helmet.” Coran told him, gesturing to his face. “I always did wonder about that, though. The helmets don’t enhance the vision all that much, and there would be room to comfortably wear eyewear, but she never wore them then.”

Matt paused. “When she was taken, was she still wearing them?”

Coran shook his head. “No, she was wearing her armour and helmet. We had been on an unfamiliar planet. None of the Paladins would leave the Castle without wearing their armour in case they meet any Galra or unfriendly creatures. Pidge normally leaves her glasses in her room.”

The older Holt sibling touched just under his temple, as if remembering where the frames of his glasses would be even after almost two years of being pretty blind - he had had spare glasses to wear inside the little habitat he, his father and Shiro shared when they weren’t outside looking for samples of alien life on Kerberos. “Can you show me where her room is? I think those might be my glasses.”

“Oh certainly. It’ll also be a good idea to take a break from all this, but I say we’re making good headway. Certainly farther than Allura would have been able to get.” Coran spoke in a bright tone, looking on the bright side as the two headed down a couple corridors that led right to Matt’s own room.

He knew the Paladins and the aliens were in other rooms down the hall, but it was still odd when they stopped just four doors down from his own room Hunk had shown him to just a few days ago.

Coran seemed to take a steadying breath before he had the door slide open, gesturing for Matt to go in first.

It was exactly like back home, except the colour scheme was much too bright for his sister’s tastes. Although everything matched, Matt knew Katie wasn’t a fan of plain colours like cream or neon blue. But, as he kept looking around, he picked out familiar colours. The pillows were a forest green, dappled like real foliage, and one set of familiar clothes were strewn about the bed, as if she had flung them off to get into her armoured suit.

Then his eyes landed on a fuzzy patch on a desk, surrounded by a half-finished project that looked like it was still in the early prototype stages.

Matt slowly walked into Katie’s bedroom, careful not to step or disturb anything as he crossed the room to the desk, and there, carefully placed on the middle of the desk so it had no chance of accidently falling, were his glasses. The frames were crooked ever so slightly, and highly worn, but not unuseable.

He picked them up slowly, as if he wasn’t sure what would happen when he did. Nothing happened when he did, though, but he still looked down at his own glasses, an odd sensation in his gut.

“Are they there?” Coran asked softly, as if talking in a museum.

Matt’s head shot up, holding the glasses closely before he turned to see Coran still by the door, as if he were afraid of stepping into Katie’s room. He nodded. “Yeah, yeah. Right here.” He replied after a moment, raising his hands to show the eyeglasses before putting them on, blinking several times as things suddenly got so much clearer, small details becoming sharper, and he saw the half-finished project in better focus.

It looked like necklaces, fitted to rest just above the manubrium, and seemed to be for some sort of communication set up, if what Katie’s smushed handwriting on the papers scattered on the desk was suggesting.

Coran must have noticed his curiosity or something, as the alien man spoke up. “Just before we had landed on that planet, Pidge had been talking about easier communications between the other Paladins and the Ship when they weren’t wearing their helmets. Hunk was the one to suggest necklaces, and she had been starting when we had landed.”

“If she had made these just a bit earlier, I bet this would have helped finding where she was, and Lance wouldn’t have been taken.” Matt muttered, eyeing the work-in-progress before finally looking away. “Okay. Thanks Coran, it feels better to be able to see better.”

“Not a problem. But I have to say, you look so remarkably like Pidge, just taller, and older I suppose.” Coran commented, his expression unreadable to the older Holt sibling.

Matt wasn’t sure how to respond to that, so he simply nodded and took one last look around Katie’s room before he headed off, more determined than ever to save his sister.

Chapter done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You have no idea how much I loved writing the flashback. Or really this entire chapter. Matt is a fun character to play around with~


	9. Aquarium

Lance had taken to pacing, once the last of his tears were gone and he was sure he had run out. He was sure he was doing laps around the barren room where he has been trapped in for days at least, first walking around the edge, his left shackled hand trailing on the wall beside him, before he got too agitated and began pacing like a trapped lion in a cage much too small.

At the thought of a trapped Lion, Lance’s heart sank at the thought of his Blue Lion, even of Pidge’s Lion. He had to guess they knew what was happening to their Paladins - at least now it made sense why Green had shielded herself away when Pidge had been taken, the pain must have been immense to scare a robotic sentient beast - but they were powerless to do anything to save them.

And now with the distance, Lance couldn’t even feel more than a wisp of Saphira in his mind. That thought alone set him on edge. He had never felt this lonely before, to not even have his Lion’s soothing presence touch at the edges of his consciousness.

Lance wanted to speak to her, to find some sort of peace that only Saphira could provide, but he couldn’t and it hurt.

The door to his cell whooshed open silently, making Lance jump before his surprise turned to a glare at who was stepping into the room.

Prince Lotor stood flanked by two sentries, their Galra guns aimed at him if he tried to do anything.

“I’ve been thinking.” The Galra Prince started, a smirk laced in his words that made Lance go rigid. “That maybe because you have been so compliant, Haggar might let you see the child.”

Lance frowned, his guard up and his eyes flicked to the sentries every so often. “You’ll take me to see Pidge.” He repeated.

Lotor nodded once, jerking his head to the sentries and they walked around him to grab Lance’s arms tightly, too tightly.

He didn’t trust this, but on the other hand seeing and maybe talking to Pidge would help, let them figure out a way out of this enemy-central. He didn’t put up a fight, but allowed the sentries to drag him wherever they were going to take him, looking around as they did, trying to map out the area.

It wasn’t a far walk, and they ended up in front of a door that, when opened, led to a really darkened place, almost darker than that place people used to use for photographs. From what Lance could see, there were tables and shelves, all filled with books or vials, like a regular old laboratory. He was pushed forward by the sentries, taken into the room before stopping suddenly.

“You may have won the ability to see your fellow Paladin, but I am afraid you are not allowed to speak.” Lotor said quietly, right into his right ear, and Lance jumped with a shout that was cut off by the Prince’s hand covering his mouth tightly. “Shh, boy. What did I just say? Not a peep, or Haggar and I will be very displeased.”

Lance growled against the hand, mumbling some choice curses and the fact he didn’t give a quiznak about displeasing the enemy, before the noise turned to a soft whine of pain as the Prince’s hand tightened on his cheeks, nails digging into his soft skin painfully.

“I’d suggest you shut up if you wish to even see the experiment.” Lotor warned, his grip on basically Lance’s lower jaw downright painful.

Despite the pain, Lance really did want to see Pidge, even a glance, to know she was alright. The last time he had seen her was when the proposition was made, the day before. He went quiet, imagining using his bayard against the Prince.

The room went very quiet before Lance heard footsteps.

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

Matt had been working tirelessly on tracing the source, only stopping to find a bathroom - it took him longer than it should have, but he got lost - and to drink something - though this was shorter as he could easily drink and work, and luckily someone (Shiro) kept bringing him things to eat and drink.

But he was making progress. While the link to the live communication had been untraceable, Matt was able to find things that were. It was faint, definitely from a place long, long far away from the Castle of Lions, but it was there, and it was there long enough for Matt to spot and trace back to the source.

While he worked, he felt another presence, somewhat familiar, brush up against him, curious about the work he was doing. Finding the presence soothing, he gave snippets of words as to what he was doing, and the curiosity grew to pride and warmth, similar to one of his mother’s hugs when he had won his first Science Fair.

It went on for most of the night - or what passed as night in space - with Matt and the presence working on reading the half translated gibberish before the Holt boy saw a pattern. He paused, hands hovering over the holo-keyboard, reading the pattern before he decided to isolate it and…

“Aha!” He cried, jumping in his chair and had to quickly stop his glasses from falling off his nose.

The pattern was a set of coordinates, hard to detect unless you knew what to look for, and when Matt checked the coordinates of the Castle of Lions, he was pleased to see they weren’t the same.

The presence gave another wave of pride towards him, almost as if to say congratulations and Matt grinned.

He had coordinates, now he just had to make sure they were the right ones.

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

When Lance saw Pidge, he was sure he was going to faint.

She was a collection of bruises and cuts, still wore a black skintight suit that might have been under armour for the Galra armour, and her expression… There was none, it was blank.

Her eyes were worse. There was no flame, no smouldering ashes with the possibility of relighting. She looked dead, empty, scooped out, like everything that made her Pidge had been removed.

She looked at him without expression, without recognition, and that was like a punch in the stomach to the older teen.

Lance so wanted to speak, his mouth opening to say her name, but a feeling of a sharp-nailed hand on his shoulder stopped him from verbally speaking. He knew Lotor would go on his threat, so the two Paladins simply looked at each other, one with recognition and the other looked more like a dead robot.

Haggar was behind Pidge, watching the youngest Paladin with a large smirk that Lance wholly wished he could punch it off her face. The witch turned her attention to Lance and the Prince and nodded her head.

“I hope you find things to your liking.” She said with what Lance could only say was evil amusement in her tone, a hand gesturing to Pidge’s shell of a body.

If Lance’s hands weren’t already half curled inside the shackles he had been wearing for who knew how long now, he would have curled them into white-knuckled fists, but he simply settled on glaring at her, clenching his teeth.

“Oh, yes, everything is perfect, Haggar.” Lotor said, a hand snaking around Lance’s shoulders, pulling him uncomfortably close and the Blue Paladin’s mind screamed at him to run, but where could he run to?

Chapter done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little abrupt for an ending but it fits in my mind hehe  
> Uhhh, Happy birthday Pidge!! I am sorry


	10. Bonds and Plans

Hunk had been in the kitchen for a total of five minutes before he figured baking or doing any sort of cooking was not going to calm him down, so he headed over to the training deck, something he knew he should do more often, and after everything that happened the past several months since Pidge disappeared, or since the beginning of the whole “Defenders of the Universe” business almost a full year ago now if he was being honest here, he could do with some stress relief.

He wasn’t sure if he was surprised or not to see someone was already training when he got there, the red-and-white sword blurring to a pink colour as it decimated the training gladiator. Keith had a fair sheen of sweat collecting on his forehead as he finished the simulator, heavy pants coming from his lips and Hunk was almost surprised he couldn’t see the Red Paladin’s breath.

Keith turned to see Hunk holding his own bayard, not activated, with emotionless eyes. Too exhausted it seemed. His sword lowered and he straightened.

“You want the room to yourself?” He panted the question out, bayard dematerializing to the strange original, deactivated design.

“Nah, actually.” Hunk headed towards the only other teen on the ship now. “Think I could use the company, maybe some team-building exercises?”

Keith’s eyebrows furrowed, as if confused by the concept before he nodded. “Sure, what level you want to do?”

“Level four partner simulation.” Hunk said automatically. “The cannon is still unwieldy for the higher levels, and I want to get some stress out on these gladiators.”

Keith nodded, and called out to the room. “Begin Level Four Partner Simulation, Red and Yellow Paladin partner class.” He prepared his stance, switching hands to materialize his shield on his left wrist. “You’ll have my back?”

Hunk grunted, his bayard changing into the heavy cannon blaster thing, and he propped it by his right hip, angling it for the ready. “'Course, buddy.”

The two worked together to protect each other, calling out to one another and keeping each other well covered against the practice enemies that came at them. And soon one simulation turned into another which turned into another and then another, until both teens both dropped to the floor a few hours later, panting heavily, their bayards lying by their hands. They were too close to one another, the combined body heat and exertion making Hunk uncomfortably hot and found his shirt sticking to his skin, but neither moved away.

“Great… Job…” It took several breaths for Hunk to make the words come out of his mouth, a breathless chuckle escaping his lips in small puffs. “Thought there were… Times you were gunna let some of them get to me… You’ve gotten faster.”

“Nah, I was getting sloppy.” Keith rebuked the comment breathlessly. “You kept them off me when I made stupid mistakes like turn my back on one to focus on two.”

Hunk laughed, groaning quietly as he reached over to pat Keith’s shoulder heavily. “I’ll always cover you, man.”

Keith gave something like a laugh, a single puff of amusement coming from his mouth, and Hunk found himself smiling more. “Good to hear that, Hunk. I’m… Glad you’re still here.”

The smile slid off Hunk’s face slowly, thinking of Pidge and Lance and felt his stomach twist and his heart give a small stutterstep. “We’ll get them back… Pidge needs to see Matt’s alive, and Lance…” He wasn’t sure how to express his thoughts on Lance. He wanted to hug the Blue Paladin, keep him close, heck he wanted…

He wanted…

“I… How do you know that?” Keith asked in a tone Hunk never heard from the Red Paladin before. It was… vulnerable and scared. “We couldn’t find Pidge until she was brought to us, and she tried to kill Shiro and Lance. She was actually close to _killing_ Lance.”

“But you stopped her.” Hunk reminded. He remembered the look of anger - no, it was more than just anger, it was more murderous-barely-restrained when Keith had seen Lance fall - on the Red Paladin’s face before he had tackled Pidge to stop her from attacking Lance or Shiro again.

“Yeah, but _after_ she had stabbed Lance in the gut like he was some Galra sentry.” Keith retorted, letting out a heavy sigh. “I was… Afraid I was too late. I…” He trailed off, his words tinged in something Hunk wished he could understand so he could help the other teen.

“You… what?” Hunk prompted, hoping to get something out of the older teen, but was mostly sure at his words Keith would freeze up again, like how he had seen him do it to everyone before.

But Keith actually answered, a heavy sigh in his first few words. “I… You remember what I told you, about Lance?”

Hunk nodded slowly, his mind replaying the conversation where Keith had somewhat confessed he had a crush on Lance - and afterwards the realization that Hunk found himself in Keith’s spot as well after the conversation.

Keith tilted his head up to see the nod before he spoke, wiping the sweat from his forehead with his undershirt he had on still, after taking off his jacket and shirt sometime between the third and fourth practice simulation. “Well, I guess… I was - _am still_ \- afraid I’ll.. Never be able to tell him?” His statement turned into a question and it made Hunk pause.

“You’ll…” Hunk mulled over his words. He found it very hard Keith would believe any of his optimistic words after what happened with Pidge and Lance disappearing on them again.

Finally the Yellow Paladin simply sighed, sitting up and Keith followed suit. “I want to believe Lance and Pidge will both be okay, and we’ll have them safe and sound in the Castle, and not have to worry about some Prince or Haggar or any Galra hurting them ever again.”

Keith looked at him for the longest time, his expression tired, far more tired than just the training the two of them just spent hours on. Then, he leant forward, ignoring the uncomfortable heat of their bodies combined, his sweaty head resting on Hunk’s shoulder in something like an embrace. Hunk automatically wrapped an arm around the older teen’s shoulders, pulling him closer.

“I want to believe that too.” Keith said. “But I need to know how we can get them. And I don’t know how.”

“We’ll find a way.” Hunk said, keeping Keith close despite feeling gross and sweaty and warm.

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

Matt was over the moon. He had cracked the code, found the coordinates, and was staring in triumph at the image in front of him, Allura and Shiro beside him.

“That’s incredible.” Princess Allura said in amazement, looking at the Base Ship for the Galra, the large twisted diamond-like shape easy to recognize. “You were able to trace the signal even when I couldn’t.”

“Mhm.” Matt hummed, crossing his arms in pride, fixing his glasses. “It took a bit of time to read Altean and Galran, but once I figured it out, it was easy to track. They thought they had erased all traces, but even when they do that, there is normally a footprint leading to the source.”

“So they’re in the Gador’lyon system? But that is so close to here.” Allura was already pulling up the universe map, her eyes scanning one particular system to another. “We wouldn’t even need to jump to get there.”

“Really? Then what are we waiting for?” Matt was ready. They found where his sister and Lance were, and they could save them any minute now.

“Woah there Matt.” Shiro grabbed the younger man’s shoulder when he made to stand. “First we need to get everyone back here, and then we need a plan.”

“Shiro, every moment we waste is a moment both Katie and Lance are in more danger. We need to go _now_.”

“Matt, I know that, but we need a plan to get into the base, find where both of them are, and get them out without anything happening to us or them.” Shiro said in a soothing voice, his eyes sympathetic. “I want them both safe too, Matt.”

The older Holt sibling pursed his lips, but finally relented under the Black Paladin’s gaze. “Fine, let’s get the others in here so we can start.”

The two teens and Coran soon joined the three on the bridge within minutes of being called, and Matt noticed curiously how close Hunk and Keith were to one another, although he couldn’t tell why.

“Good news, Matt found out where the communications came from.” Allura started, a grim sort of smile on her face. “We now know where in the galaxy Lance and Pidge are being held, although we don’t know where on the ship they are both being held in.”

“We need a plan.” Shiro said.

Hunk was the first to speak, his gaze thoughtful as he looked at the image of the Galra base. “We could try something like when we went off to save Allura. Or, if we want to be stealthy, use Green and her cloaking ability to get close to the ship, get in and search for Lance and Pidge. We could be able to find them if they have their armour on them or close by, right?”

“That might work Hunk.” Allura said, tapping a finger on her bottom lip. “I believe we could locate them if we were close enough, based on their heat signatures as Lance did not have his armour, and infiltration would make it easier to get the jump on Lotor and Haggar. They’ll be caught off guard and if we work perfectly and Fate is on our side, we’ll have both Pidge and Lance back in our hands before they can realize we were even there in the first place.”

Chapter done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here, have some Heith bonding!  
> Next chapter will be fun~ look forward to it!


	11. Rescue

Pidge was taken away from Lance again, something about going back to training, and he was dragged back to his cell. He didn’t fight it. Her eyes seemed to haunt him, looking through him like he was the ghost, like she was blind.

Guilt swirled inside him as he was dropped into his cell, jerking away from the pseudo-comforting caress the Galra Prince tried to give his cheek. Lotor just laughed before he left.

Finally alone again - _who knew Lance would rather be completely alone to having another’s company_ \- Lance paced the room. He couldn’t see what he could do to save either of them. Pidge was Haggar’s ‘experiment’ and he was Lotor’s… _something_ and the thought of being anything of that alien’s gave him painful knots in his stomach. Anything he did would most likely hurt Pidge or himself, and the shell that Lance had seen just a couple dobashes ago didn’t seem to have any fight left inside her.

He had to hope the others would figure out something, that they somehow were able to find them both and rescue them.

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

Hunk took a breath, putting his helmet on before heading to the Lions hangars where the others were.

Matt was already by Green, a hand on one of her paws, eyes closed like he was speaking to her. Keith was also by Red, doing much the same thing with her.

Hunk cast a glance at Amber and felt her warm presence. She was apprehensive about the mission, even though she only knew from the snippets Hunk could relay to her through their minds. Hunk had a guess it was because Blue and Green both had their Paladins taken, so maybe his Lion was worried the same would happen to him.

He sent a comforting message to her, assuring her he would be fine, and Lance and Pidge will be saved.

“Hunk, you should get going. Matt and Keith are ready to go.” Allura’s voice appeared behind him, making him jump. “Sorry, were you talking to Yellow?”

He nodded before clearing his throat. “Yeah, no it’s okay. Better get going and save our friends.” He said, heading off towards Green where Keith and Matt stood by her open mouth.

“So, go over the plan one last time.” Allura said.

“Matt with cloak Green and let Keith and I to enter the base.” Hunk started. They had gotten as close as they dared without alerting the Galra to their position. “Because he doesn’t have a suit meant for deep space, he’ll stay in his Lion while we go about searching for Lance and Pidge. Once we have a heat signature for both of them, we’ll most likely split up and free them and return to Matt.”

“You can’t let yourselves get caught. At least not until you have both Lance and Pidge with you.” Shiro said, walking over to the group. “If you need a distraction, Allura and I will be your backup.”

The three young men nodded. “We’ll get them back hopefully in an hour.” Matt said with absolute certainty that Hunk hoped would turn into fact than just a flippant bunch of words.

With a final nod, the three entered Green and Matt headed out, his movements on the controls hesitant for a few moments before he seemed to get the hang of it.

They flew out a bit from the Castle before Matt activated the cloak, and Hunk held his breath. This was both very similar to finding Allura back the first time they met Zarkon and so very different. They had to save their friends, without being caught or alerting anyone to their location.

“We should be in range of scanning heat signatures, guys, you should start on that.” Matt said in a quiet voice, as if raising it would alert the ships they slipped past on their way closer to the main base.

Hunk and Keith nodded, both turning to the holo-projectors on their gauntlets, and began to look for and differences in heat signatures in the large Galra base now looming in front of them.

Keith made a noise a half-second before Hunk’s holo-projector began to show moving heat figures, their colours much, much brighter and hotter than a human’s, then he saw two little blips where the heat was different. They were relatively close to one another, in the middle of the base, and they both seemed to be stationary.

“Got them.” Hunk stated, and saw Matt nod, heading closer to the base.

They sidled up to a blind side, where Matt turned to the others with a grim determination. “Save my sister and Lance. I’ll be here, see if I can help you in any way, but if I can’t, you’re on your own.”

Hunk nodded, having his helmet extend before he stepped to the back of Green to not let out any of the air Matt needed before creeping out of the Lion, Keith a couple steps away from him.

They kept a sharp eye on everything around them, their bayards held at the ready without yet being activated, as they headed to a place close to where Pidge and Lance hopefully were.

“So, which are you going for?” Keith asked when they found a good spot, and figured no one would notice as there weren’t many moving figures just on the other side of them.

“I’ll take the closest one. I’m not exactly stealthy looking.” Hunk replied as Keith cut a hole that would fit even him into the side of the base, both slipping in. “And if they need Galra scans, I’d be out of luck, you know?”

“Hm. Keep your helmet up, just in case.” Keith warned as they left the room. “And if someone else talks to us, their voice won’t echo.”

“Good idea.” Hunk nodded, looking both ways apprehensively as the two Paladins made their way further in.

They made it to the first heat signature without getting caught, but had close shaves several times. Sadly, Matt told them over the communications that he couldn’t figure out a way to do anything from inside Green, but they found they were okay.

Outside the room, they found the door wasn’t locked in any way, but they were still careful. Hunk couldn’t see any Galra in the room with whoever was inside, which was a blessing. The two gave a nod before Hunk headed for their captured friend while Keith headed off with a quiet word of luck to find the other.

Hunk gathered his feelings and pushed them down for the moment as he opened the door, peering into the room.

It was dark, a pale purple light emitting from inside, but the room was also tiny, just larger than a broom closet.

Asleep on the floor, curled up in a tight ball, was Pidge. She looked so small and childlike in that moment Hunk was surprised by it. He remembered what everyone had said about her, about what he had seen back when Lance had been stabbed, so he walked into the room carefully.

He debated waking her up before he decided against it. He collected her in his arms, finding her even smaller than before against his chest, before he headed back out.

“I have Pidge. I’m gunna bring her…” He paused, looking down at her before realizing she didn’t have her armour or helmet. “Uh, guys, I think we have a problem?”

“What kind of problem?” Matt asked, sounding worried.

“Pidge’s armour is gone. And Lance doesn’t have his, it’s back at the Castle. If they go out into space without that…” Hunk couldn’t finish his sentence, looking down at Pidge.

She was wearing some sort of under armour at least, which was better than her regular clothes, but she needed a helmet, and as he thought about it, Lance would need something to wear and a helmet.

“I can move Green closer to where you guys entered.” Matt suggested. “But you’d have to tell me when to get you, that place isn’t exactly in the Galra blindspot.”

Hunk nodded. “I… Alright. Keith, do you have Lance yet?”

Silence over the line besides some soft, short breaths, and Hunk paused.

“Keith?”

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

Lance was pacing again, having nothing better to do, when he heard hurried footsteps coming towards his cell. It didn’t sound familiar, like the Galra steps or Prince Lotor, which made the Blue Paladin frown, although a flutter of hope stuttered his heart.

The steps stopped in front of Lance’s room, and a couple moments later the door was opened. Lance backed away in case the person on the other side was not friendly, but he saw the boots and almost wept in relief.

“Oh thank the gods it’s you.” He breathed, hurrying to the door so by the time it revealed Keith’s covered face, Lance only had to take an additional step before he embraced the other.

Keith’s hands were frozen in place before Lance felt one wrap around Lance in return slowly.

“You’re going to be okay.” Keith whispered, hearing Matt in his ear make a suggestion to something Hunk had said. “Hunk has Pidge, we’ll get you both out.”

Lance relaxed against the hard but round armour Keith wore, resting his head against the other’s shoulder for a moment before he pulled away. “We should hurry, I don’t know when Lo-”

The words died from his lips as he looked over Keith’s shoulder to see movement that stilled. Keith twisted his head to see before he turned the rest of his body, keeping Lance behind him as his bayard activated, extending into the sword.

Lotor stood half the corridor away from the two, a furious look on his face that made Lance hide just a small bit more behind Keith. He didn’t want to be scared, it was just, he was without a weapon, and was being rescued, so if anything failed, Lance wasn’t sure he was going to get out of this in as good condition as he was now.

“How could you even open that door? Only Galra may-” Lotor hissed before Keith interrupted, and Lance could imagine the smirk.

“Yeah, it helps I have Galra blood, then huh?” Keith said, the full helmet retreating for a moment. “And if you don’t mind, I’ll be taking my friend here and we’ll be on our way.”

“You are not allowed to leave with him.” Lotor took a step towards them, but Keith held his ground.

“I don’t care what you allow or not, Lance is coming with me.” Keith said, reaching back and taking Lance’s shackled hand. “And you can’t stop us.”

Without a warning Keith took off in the opposite direction, tugging on Lance’s shackles to run with him, and he did, ignoring Lotor’s angered shouts.

Guards and sentries started showing up at every corner, guns at the ready but Keith protected the two of them with his shield, and never did he let go of Lance until they made it to a quieter part of the Galra base when they saw a familiar flash of yellow and white.

“Hunk!” Lance breathed, his lungs running ragged after the sudden sprinting after who-knows how many days of being unable to do anything while being a prisoner. He was lagging behind Keith a bit due to this, even with having longer legs than the Red Paladin, but still Keith never let go of him until they reached Hunk.

“We gotta hurry. We might have company.” Keith said in a strained voice, looking back the way the two had just come from.

“Yeah, yeah, Matt’s on his way now, give him a couple seconds.” Hunk replied, shifting a mass in his arms that Lance took a moment to realize it was Pidge.

“Pidge!” He panted in surprise, but she stayed asleep.

The others seemed to hear something in their helmets that made them look up before Keith turned to Lance.

“Okay, Lance, you gotta trust me. Don’t let go, and don't try to breathe.”

Lance opened his mouth to question before he understood, and he nodded. “Yeah.”

Keith seemed to look him over before he nodded as well. He opened his arms and Lance gladly embraced him, holding himself close while also not having his arms in the way of the jetpacks.

The three teens heard calls and orders down the hall when Hunk and Keith kicked off, heading quickly up to a hole Lance hadn’t noticed, and as they got closer to it, he pulled himself closer and closer against Keith, tucking his face against his neck and gulped one final breath of air, forcing it all out at the final second after remembering his training back at the Garrison and shut his eyes tightly.

He counted the seconds, remembering from classes he actually paid the most attention to, before he felt oxygen wash over him about five seconds in as he guessed a Lion took the four of them in her mouth. He coughed, and heard Pidge do the same thing, and when he opened his eyes he saw the white and blue of the inside of a Lion, although he wasn’t sure which one they were in.

“We’re saved, holy quiznak.” Lance breathed, looking between the four of them - Pidge still asleep for some reason that was beginning to worry Lance in the back of his mind - before he looked back at Keith specifically. “Thank you, Keith. You have no idea.”

Keith seemed to mumble something that Lance couldn’t hear before Pidge finally moved.

Her eyes fluttered first, and Lance saw a glow that he didn’t like. “Pidge?”

She seemed to twitch unnaturally before Keith shouted. “Hold her down, Hunk!”

“You cannot hold this body forever!” The three teens looked worried as Haggar’s voice came from Pidge’s lips. “You will tire, and the experiment with finally rid all of you.” She seemed to struggle a bit as Hunk’s hold became restrictive, but her eyes landed on Lance. “Except for you. Prince Lotor will get you back, and you’ll never escape again, boy.”

“That hack and you will never win.” Keith growled before he reached over towards Pidge, his tone softening. “Sorry about this Pidge.”

Before Hunk or Lance could react, Keith whacked the back of Pidge’s neck with the hilt of his sword, and the three saw her lose consciousness. Hunk still held her protectively.

“We have to put her under where she can’t wake up.” Keith said, looking between the two. “Until Haggar’s dealt with, we don’t know how to save Pidge ourselves.”

“You sure this is the way to do it?” Hunk asked.

“We don’t know how to break whatever sort of connection Haggar has with Pidge. Getting rid of Haggar would be easier than letting our guard drop and have a possessed Pidge kill us in our sleep.” Keith retorted. “Do you have a better idea?”

Hunk looked put out and shook his head. “So she’ll be put in a cryo until we somehow defeat Haggar?”

Keith nodded, heading farther into the Lion’s mouth for the cockpit. “It’s the only thing I can think of. Now, c’mon, while she’s not frozen, let’s take her to Matt and get back to safety.”

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

Lotor growled as he stalked to the bridge, knowing by the time he did, his human and Haggar’s experiment would be gone. He ordered Haggar to be retrieved immediately, watching as a dot disappeared from view.

_How was it possible a human could have Galra blood?_ The thought troubled Lotor a bit, but he had to put it aside for now. Now he had to figure out a way to get the Blue Paladin back.

Haggar arrived with a sour look on her lips as well.

“I’m sorry, sire, they knocked the experiment out, pushing me out for the moment.” She said, bowing her head.

“So, until we know we have control over that child, we cannot get either Green or Blue Paladins?” Lotor questioned, thinking.

“Yes, Lotor.” Haggar trailed off, looking at Lotor closely. “Do you have an idea?”

A spark of an idea had appeared as the Prince had been thinking of the relationship between the Green and Blue Paladins. “Perhaps, Haggar. Tell me, do you know who controls the system they are from? I heard it was the place that previously housed the Blue Lion.”

A slow smile appeared on Haggar’s lips. “I believe I do. Why?”

A similar smirk grew on Lotor’s face. “I’d say we should visit that planet. See if we can find something to use against the Blue Paladin. I have a feeling that pitiful protective instinct came from that planet.”

Story Done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope ya'll liked this ending! As with Green Paladin, you don't have to worry just yet, this isn't the last you'll see of these guys. Next fic will be hopefully out this Friday, and you'll be able to find it under "The Yellow Paladin"


End file.
